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CHAPTER XI.

THE REFORMATION IN ENGLAND.

formation

Doctrinal

ward VI.

intentional

THE separation of the Church of England from that of The ReRome, formally accomplished under Henry VIII., was ander Henry political and legal rather than a religious reformation. The VIII. politi cal and legai doctrinal changes which followed under Edward VI. and rather than Elizabeth, were an unintentional consequence, to which religious. Henry and his Parliament more than once declared them- changes selves utterly repugnant. But in reality the Reformation, under Edin both its political and religious aspects, was the effect of and Elizacauses which had been in operation for centuries, not only beth, an unin England, but throughout Europe. 'No revolution,' says consequence. Hallam, 'has ever been more gradually prepared than that Both were which separated almost one half of Europe from the com- causes long munion of the Roman see; nor were Luther and Zwingle in operation. any more than occasional instruments of that change which, had they never existed, would at no great distance of time have been effected under the names of some other reformers. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, the learned doubtfully and with caution, the ignorant with zeal and eagerness, were tending to depart from the faith and rites which authority prescribed.'1

the effect of

continuous

In England, the Church, from its first institution, had Early and always possessed a marked National character. The national spiritual primacy of the Pope and his authority in matters character of the English of faith were reverently admitted, but the relation was Church. rather that of mother and daughter than of master and

1 Hallam, Const. Hist. i. 57.

Practical identity of

1

servant; while the exorbitant claims of jurisdiction and territorial power asserted by Hildebrand and his successors, together with the pecuniary exactions founded on those claims, were persistently, though with varying degrees of firmness, resisted by the English kings and people.

Prior to the Norman Conquest, Church and State in Church and England were so intimately united that they were practiState before cally identical. William of Normandy, to further his Conquest. designs on England, entered into an alliance with the

the Norman

Papacy; and when the Conquest-which it had been his object to present to the eyes of Europe somewhat in the light of a Crusade-had been effected, the ecclesiastical power was to a great extent separated from the civil power and placed in much closer communion with and subordination to the Papal See. But anxious as he was to propitiate the See of Rome, William was careful not to surrender the ancient supremacy of the State over the national church. Still, the impetus given by the Conquest to the Papal power in England caused it to go on rising, Conquest till until-notwithstanding the partial checks which it received the reign of Henry III. under Henry I. and Henry II., on the questions of Investi

Growth of Papal power from the

tures and clerical immunity from civil jurisdiction-it reached its acme under John and Henry III. For one hundred and fifty years succeeding the Conquest the right of nominating the archbishops, bishops, and mitred abbots had been claimed and exercised by the King. This right had been specially confirmed by the Constitutions of Clarendon, which also provided that the revenues of vacant sees should belong to the Crown. But John admitted all the Papal claims, surrendering even his kingdom to the Pope, and receiving it back as a fief of the Holy See. By the Great Charter the Church recovered its liberties; the

1 For the maternal status of the Church of Rome, see S. Bernard and Hildebrand. . . . ante omnia S. R. Ecclesiam, . . . Ecclesiarum Matrem esse non Dominam, te verò non Dominum episcoporum sed unum ex ipsis.' S. Bern., De Consid. 1. iv. c. vii. 'Dei Ecclesia, quae Mater et Domina nostra est.' Greg. VII. Lib. V. Ep. 20. [But John of Salisbury, no less than Frederick II., complains of the mater as becoming a noverea. Polyer, vi. 24. -ED.] 13 Supra, p. 72.

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right of free election being specially conceded to the cathedral chapters and the religious houses. Every election was, however, subject to the approval of the Pope, who also claimed a right of veto on institutions to the smaller church benefices,-the small monasteries and parish churches which were in the hands of private patrons, lay or ecclesiastical. There was thus in the Pope's hand,' remarks an eminent historian,1 ́an authority of an indefinite kind, which it was presumed that his sacred office would forbid him to abuse, but which, however, if he so unfortunately pleased, he might abuse at his discretion. He had absolute power over every nomination to an English benefice; he might refuse his consent till such adequate reasons, material or spiritual, as he considered sufficient to induce him to acquiesce, had been submitted to his consideration. In the case of nominations to the religious houses, the superiors of the various orders residing abroad had equal facilities for obstructiveness.' Under Henry III. the power thus vested in the Pope and foreign superiors of the monastic orders was greatly abused, and soon degenerated into a mere channel for draining money into the Roman exchequer. Edward I. firmly withstood the exactions of the Pope, Edward I. and re-asserted the independence of both Church and resists the Papal claims Crown. To the letter of Boniface VIII. claiming to be and exacfeudal lord of Scotland, and commanding Edward I. to withdraw his troops from that kingdom and submit his the English pretensions to the decision of the Papal see, the Parlia- to the letter ment of England returned a very emphatic repudiation of of Boniface the Pope's temporal jurisdiction. 'The Kings of England,' they said, 'have never pleaded, or been bound to plead, respecting their rights in the kingdom of Scotland, or any other their temporal rights, before any judge, ecclesiastical or secular. It is, therefore, and by the grace of God shall always be, our common and unanimous resolve that with respect to the rights of his kingdom of Scotland, or other his temporal rights, our aforesaid lord the King shall not

1 Froude, Hist. Eng., ii. 3.

tions.

Answer of

Parliament

VIII.

Series of Statutes passed to check the

sorum,

To prevent

resident

on English religious houses.

plead before you, nor submit in any manner to your judg-
ment, nor suffer his right to be brought in question by any
inquiry, nor send agents or procurators for that purpose to
your court.
Neither do we, nor will we, permit, as

we neither can nor ought, our aforesaid lord the King to
do, or attempt to do, even if he wished it, any of the things
aforesaid,' 1

In the reign of the great Edward began a series of statutes passed to check the aggressions of the Pope, and restore the independence of the national church and kingaggressions of the Pope. dom. The first of the series was passed in 1306-7. It De Aspor recites that 'the abbots, priors, and governors of religious tatis Religio- houses, and certain aliens their superiors, as the abbots and 35 Edward I. priors of the Cistertians, the Premonstrants, the orders of A.D. 1306-7. Saint Augustine and of Saint Benedict, and many more of superiors other religions and orders, have at their own pleasure set abroad from divers heavy, unwonted, and unportable talliages, payments levying taxes and impositions upon every of the said monasteries and houses subject unto them in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, without the privity of the King and his nobility, contrary to the laws and customs of the said realm;' and that in consequence of such impositions, the service of God is diminished; alms are not given to the poor, the sick, and the feeble; the health of the living and the souls of the dead be miserably defrauded; hospitality, almsgiving and other godly deeds do cease; and so that which in times past was charitably given to godly uses and to the service of God, is now converted to an evil end, by permission whereof there groweth great scandal to the people.' It was therefore enacted,' the King considering it would be very prejudicial to him and his people, if he should any longer suffer so great losses and injuries to be winked at,' -that for the future no abbot or other religious person should, directly or indirectly, secretly or openly, carry or send any tax, rent or talliage, imposed by the superiors, or assessed amongst themselves, out of the kingdom; and that

1 Rymer, ii. 873-875.

'priors aliens' should not presume to assess any such payment whatever upon religious houses subject to them.1

A.D. 1351.

This statute was confirmed under Edward III. in the Statute of Provisors, 4th, and again in the 5th year of his reign; and in the 25th 25 Edw. III., of his reign, roused by the grievous complaints of all the commons of his realm,' the King and Parliament passed the famous Statute of Provisors, aimed directly at the Pope, and emphatically forbidding his nominations to English benefices. The preamble recites that 'the holy Church of England was founded in the estate of prelacy within the realm of England,' by the King's progenitors and the ancestors of 'the earls, barons, and other nobles of his realm, to inform them and the people of the law of God, and to make hospitalities, alms, and other works of charity, in the places where the churches were founded, for the souls of the founders, their heirs, and all Christians; and certain possessions as well in fees, lands, rents, as in advowsons, which do extend to a great value, were assigned by the said founders to the prelates and other people of the Holy Church of the said realm to sustain the same charge the same kings, earls, barons, and other nobles, as lords and advowees, have had, and ought to have, the custody of such voidances, and the presentments of the collations of the benefices being of such prelacies: And the said Kings in times past were wont to have the greatest part of their council, for the safeguard of the realm when they had need, of such prelates and clerks so advanced; the Pope [Pape] of Rome accroching to him the seignories of such possessions and benefices, doth give and grant the same benefices to aliens, which did never dwell in England, and to cardinals which might not dwell here, and to others as well aliens as denizens, as if he had been patron or advowee of the said dignities and benefices, as he was not of right by the law of England. . . . And ... now of late, our holy father the Pope. . . taketh of all such benefices the first fruits and many other profits, and a great part of the treasure of the

1 35 Edw. I. st. i. c. 1-4.

2 [This statement as to the foundation of the English Church is not historically accurate.-ED.]

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